My car is turning out to be a disaster - need words of encouragement

[thstone]

Do you love driving it? If so, then keep it and get the deferred repairs and maintenance caught up so it will be reliable.

If you don't love driving it, then sell it now and put your money into something you love driving.

[Rotmilky]

Welcome to the first few weeks of Porsche ownership. In fact, I'd say welcome to the first few weeks of ownership in a 20 year old car...it doesn't matter the make.

I speak from experience. Currently my stable consists of a '59 International truck, a '60 international truck, two different '68 911s, a '77 911, a 1984 928, a '97 Boxster, a '01 Boxster, a '05 911 and a 08 Cayenne. Everyone of those suffered from some form of deferred maintenance when I got them (except the 05 and 08 which I got new).

Case in point, I picked up the '01 Boxster just a couple of months back. It's got 80K miles on it. So far I've put new brakes, new rear calipers, new air filters, new plugs, new brake fluid, new struts, inner CV joints, motor mount, and....hmm...I think there are a couple of other things that I've forgotten. Oh yea...the rear window is cracked and the top needs replacing. Sigh. As these cars age, people buy them but can't afford to maintain them. So, it just doesn't get done. It's more common than you'd think. So, I go into these cars knowing I'll spend the next 6 months fixing stuff that I didn't break. However, once I do a thorough job fixing the deferred maintenance, the cars are then pretty reliable. They're still 20 years old (or 30 or 40 or even 50 years old in my case) and so stuff still fails. But not nearly at the rate you see during the first few days of ownership.

Just look at repairing your Boxster as a hobby. You didn't buy the car to drive it -- you bought it to fix. You're just driving it to see what is going to fail next. Sure, I do jest a little bit with that comment, but if you know things are going to fail and that you're prepared to make repairs -- it makes it a lot easier to just shrug your shoulders as you put it back up on jacks.

Good luck.

[78F350]

Reading Rotmilky reminded me of a few more things for the list, but of low urgency:
Spark plugs, spark plug tubes, and inspect/replace coils if needed.
Additionally it is cheap and easy to replace the coil boots while you are there even if the coil looks good.

I think Pelican has em for about $2.50 each, but no pic so I'm not positive its the right part.
From Rock Auto:


Oh, and there's a >90% chance your motor mount should be replaced.

[michael_J_brown]

Thanks guys for these excellent tips. I will replace these components. Do you recommend and particular order?

[Frodo]

Hang in there. I got my 2001 in 2004 with 19k miles on the clock. Within the first 2 or 3 years I had to do an alternator, front wheel bearing, water pump (+ high temp thermostat). Also replaced a motor mount, and a handful of minor stuff. Knocking on wood as I say this, I've now got 93k miles and, other than standard maintenance items, I've had very few issues. I did go ahead and proactively have the clutch done so I could have the IMS issue taken care of--an item of lesser importance to you it sounds. Again, proactively, I had the AOS replaced at the same time because it was pretty much due.

I've got a 2007 Mazda and I feel like, in the few years I've had it, it's needed possibly more work than the Box.

[michael_J_brown]

thanks Frodo. I really love driving this car. I've owned a 911, a 928S and a 914 and this is my favorite Porsche hands down.